Danny Conant

“There are moments when the photographs seem sentimental. Yet it is also clear that the feeling of personal warmth and charm correctly describes her subjects, and their relaxed, unselfconscious engagement with the camera is actually quite natural.”–Phyllis Braff, NY Times

Danny Conant is a Washington D.C. area fine art photographer whose work has appeared in numerous exhibitions and national publications. Her specialty is photographing figures, then she uses a number of alternative processes to produce her beautiful imagery—platinum, silver gelatin, emulsion transfers and digital printing on a variety of substrates.

A retired grade-school teacher, Danny has studied photography and printmaking with Ralph Gibson, Olivia Parker, Elizabeth Opalenik, Greg Gorman, and Joyce Tenneson. The view through Conant’s lens exposes the world of a traveler who is witness to provocative images of figures that are at once earthly and ethereal. The transition from traditional darkroom photography to her current artistic process results in mixed media works that are both visually and physically dimensional. Conant’s extensive travels have taken her to the far and near east. Multiple trips to China and Tibet have allowed her to delve further into the spirit and culture of the regions she visits.

Danny writes about her emulsion lift transfer process:
“I was one of the early pioneers in Emulsion Transfer techniques, a wonderful way of transferring images onto practically any surface. In my original darkroom method, I project a 35 mm slide onto 8×10 Polaroid film in the enlarger. I then pull the film apart and place the thin emulsion layer in hot water, then slip a piece of acetate and shape the gelatinous emulsion with a brush or my fingertips before placing it face down on damp watercolor paper. It’s an unpredictable process that produces a very dreamy, ghostly effect that I find very charming.”